The End of the Beginning
by HelgaGP
Summary: When someone dies it doesn't mean it's over. Begins with Zim and Dib's last battle. Zim is killed but wont leave this world till he destroys Dib. It's finished
1. Prologue

*Looks over the little bit that she has written* Well, I never thought I'd do this but this story starts out with Zim and Dib's last battle. Usually these fics make me cry. Knowing that I've written it makes me shiver. And this is the first fic that I've started posting before I've finished writing it. So hopefully I'll get it finished. Of course that will depend on you guys.  
  
Also, someone from one of Jhonen's other works will come into this in the end. But that's all I'll tell you about that. Gotta keep you wondering about something! Other than what's going on in my mind that made me write this. It's kinda creepy. Actually it's something I've been thinking about for a while now and has nearly driven me insane till I cracked and began writing it during a boring science video. But enough about that.  
  
And this is the best title I could think of. Sorry if it sounds corny. And I rated it PG-13. No swearing will be in it but there will be a couple deaths. Let me know if you think I should raise the rating for that. I just don't want to get in trouble. I'm paranoid of that.  
  
By the way, I don't own anything that is owned by Jhonen Vasquez. If I did own things that Jhonen owns that would make ME Jhonen. Which I am not. So just read it and don't sue me. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Prologue  
  
The sky was cloudy that night. The dark gray masses rolled overhead, blocking out the moon and stars and threatening to unleash the storm that boiled with in them. In the distance the faint rumble of thunder sounded then faded away.  
  
Down on the ground, though, all was quiet. Quiet and still as if the neighborhood knew something was about to happen and wanted nothing to do with it. A tension in the air only increased the ominous.  
  
The figure of a tall, thin boy in his late teens stepped out of the shadows into the light of a street lamp, the long knife in his hand glinted brightly.  
  
"Come on Zim!" Dib called down the dark alley, which Zim had hurried into only minutes before. He wasn't sure how long he had been stalking the alien that night. Seconds had run into minutes, maybe even hours, as he had followed, hidden in the shadows, while Zim collected samples of various planet life changing colors from autumn.  
  
"Come on Zim!" He called again when his enemy didn't respond. "This has gone on long enough! We settle it tonight! Once and for all!" For a moment nothing moved. Then, slowly, Zim stepped out of the alley. His hands were behind his back and he scowled at the human he had come to hate so much over the years he had been on Earth.  
  
"Yes, Dib. I agree. It's time we put this to an end." Zim grinned at Dib's knife. "That's all you've got? By now I thought you would have something better to defend yourself with."  
  
Dib crouched down, ready to spring once Zim made any move to attack. His eye twitched behind his glasses. "This is all I need." He hissed. With the knife held out in front of his Dib made the first move, leaping forward. Zim's hands came out from behind his back holding a ray gun. A bright red beam shot out toward Dib, it hit his knife and flew back toward where it began. Zim gasped and tried to jump out of the way but the motion left his back exposed. The ray hit his I.D. Pak, frying the systems and destroying it.  
  
Zim fell to the ground. He lay there a moment before pushing himself to a sitting position. He reached behind him to feel out the damage. Only half of the pod remained and a sharp electric shock made Zim pull his hand back when he touched a broken wire. Now he knew how the last battle would end.  
  
Darkness fell over him and Zim looked up. Dib was looking down at him coldly, half of his face hidden in shadows. The arm holding the knife was tense, ready to strike.  
  
Zim studied the face of his rival, trying to see the boy who had chased his home from skool that first day, wanting to expose him for what he really was. Then he had been armed with alien catching handcuffs, now he held a knife. His long, thin fingers griped the black handle tightly. Dib's head, no longer abnormally large, fit his thin body perfectly, though the students of their Sophomore class still used it as a way to poke fun at him. His black, spiky hair, large glasses and clothes were about the only things that remained of the human Zim had first met.  
  
"Well?" Zim said. "Are you going to kill me now? Or are you just going to stand there for ten minutes?"  
  
"I told you I would stop your every move, Zim." Dib replied coldly. "You should've gone back to Irk when you had the chance. You wont have that chance now." Dib raised the knife over his head with one hand, Zim watched the sharp point shine in the street light, then Dib brought it down swiftly and plunged it into Zim's chest and pulling it out in one motion.  
  
Zim flinched as the pain shot through his body. His hand went to the wound and when he took it away his black glove was crimson with fresh blood. As he looked at the blood Zim's lips curled into a grin. Dib took a step back when Zim looked up at him, still grinning. A look of fear flashed across Dib's face, he glanced over at the laser gun laying a few feet away, then he glared down at the alien again.  
  
"See Zim?" Dib hissed. "It's over. I won, you lost." Zim's morbid grin grew slightly to show his zipper-like teeth and chuckled a little.  
  
"Oh no, Dib." He whispered, barely audible. "It's just beginning." Dib continued to glare as his enemy slowly sank down to lay on the sidewalk and became still, surrounded by a puddle of his own blood. Dib watched Zim's body closely for a few minutes then bent down to wipe some of the blood off of the knife onto the grass. He straitened up again and began back to his house.  
  
It was then that the rain began.  
  
By the time Dib walked in the front door he was soaked and all the blood was washed from the knife. Gaz looked away from the TV only long enough to see her brother walk in soaked, holding a long knife and blood staining his clothes.  
  
"Geese, Dib. Who'd you kill?" she asked, her eyes back on the TV.  
  
"Zim." Dib answered. The iciness still in his voice. "The Earth is safe." He added then continued up to his room.  
  
"You sound so happy about it, too." Gaz muttered sarcastically to herself. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
An hour later Dib sat at his computer e-mailing some labs in the city that he wanted to have look at Zim's body, which was wrapped in plastic in an old freezer in the garage.  
  
After sliding the knife under his bed and changing his clothes, which had turned out to be pointless since he just ended up staining another outfit, Dib had gone back out into the rain to retrieve Zim. This time tough he took his car.  
  
As he turned the corner and his headlights illuminated the site of his and Zim's final battle Dib saw something duck down behind the alien. He parked in front of the body incase anyone drove by and studied the small, quivering lime green thing. It seemed to be hiding from him, using Zim's body as a protective wall against the bright headlights.  
  
Just as Dib was wondering if he should go back and get the knife again the little creature timidly began to sit up and peer over at him. Its black ears were drooping and the rain had matted the green fur and red splotches ran down its face with the rain and tears.  
  
Dib picked up the plastic wrap from the passenger's seat and stepped out of the car. The knife wouldn't be needed. Gir watched Dib walk over and drop the plastic next to the dead alien. He paused to watch Gir. The two looked at each other in silence, Gir hugging Zim's wig closely.  
  
Finally Dib looked away and returned his attention to Zim. Thin wisps of steam rose from the body as the rain burned his skin. But for the first time Zim wasn't screaming or trying to get to shelter. He just laid on the sidewalk, unnaturally still, a thin trickle of blood still ran from the long thin cut in his chest to mix with the rain and flow to the street drain.  
  
Dib kneeled down and began wrapping the corpse in the plastic. He shivered a little as the cold water soaked into the knees of his black jeans.  
  
"M-m-master?" Gir whimpered. Dib ignored him and continued wrapping. "Wh-what are you doing?" the S.I.R. asked quietly. He hugged the wig tighter as if afraid Dib might take that from him and wrap it in plastic too. Dib looked up for only a moment to look at the robot with an expressionless look then stood up and began dragging the macabre package toward the car parked a few feet away.  
  
Over his years on Earth, Zim had grown along with his classmates. Something to do with the difference in the gravitational pull on Earth compared to Irk. This had always kept Zim and Dib at about the same height and gave Dib a hard time trying to load the body into the trunk of his car.  
  
When he had finally gotten Zim inside Dib slammed the lid closed. Then stood and stared at the back of the gray car. The slamming trunk sounded strange. It seemed to make it final.  
  
Zim was dead.  
  
The battle was, after all these years, over. For good.  
  
Dib had won and Earth was safe.  
  
So.why did Dib feel like he was missing something? That he hadn't done something right? Something in his long thought out plan wasn't quite right. But he couldn't figure out what it was.  
  
A small tug on his trench coat brought Dib out of his thoughts. He looked down to find Gir looking up at him sadly, rain streamed down his face. A few robotic tears mixed in.  
  
"Where are you taking Master?" Gir asked the wig still held protectively close to him. He sounded frightened and seemed to know that wherever Zim was being taken wasn't good. Dib sighed and some of the hatred left him, making him feel empty and feeling sorry for little S.I.R. Gir had never really done anything to him.  
  
"To my house." Dib answered. "Then I'll take him to the city where some scientists will look at him." Gir sniffed.  
  
"When will he come home?" he asked. Dib looked at the trunk again, his face still in the expressionless pose it had been in since the moment Zim had died.  
  
"He wont be coming back." He replied. He heard Gir sniff some more but didn't look down. Instead Dib walked around to the driver's side and got into the car. He was about to shut the door when he realized Gir had followed him and was standing on the sidewalk looking at him sadly.  
  
"Go home, Gir." Dib told the robot. "Your mission is over." He shut the door and drove away.  
  
On the sidewalk Gir watched the car drive away then began walking home alone. He rubbed the soaking black wig to his face and sobbed.  
  
Back in his room, Dib pushed the send button on his e-mail and turned off his computer. Leaning back in his desk chair he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. In his mind he had gone over the events of that night over and over countless times. Each time the feeling that something was wrong increased.  
  
He grabbed the latest issue of 'Crop-Circles' off his desk and went to his bed, using the wall as a backrest, to read it. But he found that he couldn't concentrate on the articles. His mind kept wandering two hours into the past.  
  
Stalking Zim  
  
Chasing him into the alley.  
  
Watching him fall by his own ray.  
  
Stabbing him.  
  
Zim grinning at him.  
  
That was it. Instead of fear or anger or even pain, Zim had been grinning. More like a smirk and a grin together. But losing hadn't upset Zim. He should have been glaring at Dib! Or begging for help! But no. Zim had grinned. He had been mocking Dib! Even to his death Zim had refused to admit that he had lost! Refused to admit that Dib was greater.  
  
Angry now, Dib threw the magazine to the floor. He jumped off his bed, went to his desk, grabbed all the paper from the printer and a pencil then went back to his bed. Sitting against the wall again, using his legs and a book as a makeshift easel Dib began to draw.  
  
He drew Zim, sitting on the sidewalk, blood running down his uniform from the knife wound in his chest. The Zim in the picture glared back at him but something in his drawn eyes seemed to be mocking Dib still. He crumpled the picture into a tight ball and threw it to the floor where it came to rest beside the magazine.  
  
He drew another picture, this one of Zim looking afraid. Somehow the alien's face seemed to sneer at him, as if hiding a secret Dib would never know.  
  
So Dib drew another, then another, and another. He kept drawing until that horrible mocking laughter had finally left Zim's disguised eyes. Then he drew that picture again, adding more detail, making Zim more afraid and expressing more pain. Once he had perfected the image in his mind, the image that should have been reality, Dib drew it another dozen times. Until every piece of blank paper in his room was covered with a morbid portrait of Zim.  
  
Until Dib almost could believe that that picture was what had really happened.  
  
At 5:30 AM Dib laid in his bed, crumpled paper littering every square inch of the floor, and listened to the storm out side as he teetered on the edge of sleep.  
  
As he slipped off into that dark void an almost inaudible sound drifted through his room.  
  
Zim laughing. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hey. Umm. I don't know how you like this. But I would like to know. It doesn't really sound like something I'd write, but it's been on my mind for weeks and I just had to get it down. I think I said before that It's the first full length fic that I didn't finish before I started posting so whether I ever DO finish is up to you guys. If you don't like it I'll just write the ending for myself. It's the ending that I've been thinking about the most. It should be good. Hopefully a big surprise. So.. Please review. ~HelgaGP 


	2. Chap 2 Voices

Okay, been a while since I posted chapter one, but I finally got this chapter done (I write this fic during skool). This chapter shouldn't be too slow. Chapter three is where things really start to happen though. So, read and review I guess! Thanks for all your support!  
  
I don't own Jhonen C. Vasquez's stuff all right? GET IT THROUGH YOUR LEGAL HEADS!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 2- Voices  
  
1 year later.  
  
Dib sat at the table in the high-skool cafeteria, Gaz, as always, sitting beside him playing her GSAdvanced. It would be a year tomorrow since he had defeated Zim.yet everything was exactly how it had been a year before Zim had come to Earth. Only worse.  
  
Now, instead of his classmates giving him looks that said they thought he was crazy; they looked at him CONVINCED he was crazy. Most of them were actually afraid of him. When Zim disappeared most of them right away suspected him of killing the other boy. They were right, of course, but there was no proof.  
  
So now when they weren't making fun of his now only slightly large head, his interest in the paranormal world, or his new interest in drawing morbid art, they watched him cautiously and acted as if they expected him to pull a gun on them or something.  
  
His plans for Zim had nose-dived too. In fact all the labs he had e-mailed had turned him down within one day. They hadn't been too polite about it either. In their replies they had called him 'insane', or 'obsessed' and one had even gone as far as to call him 'wacky-paranormal-obsessed-freak'.  
  
Wacky.  
  
'Where the Hell did they come up with that?' Dib asked himself, thinking back on the rejection letters. 'It's a stupid word. Who ever thought of that word should've been killed.'  
  
Dib had continued to e-mail the labs repeatedly until they all simply stop replying. He had even asked his dad, Professor Membrane, once to take a look at the body. But Membrane had just told him to go solve world hunger.  
  
In the end Dib had ended up burring Zim's body in his back yard. Nothing marked the grave and now that the grass had grown back he wasn't even sure he could find it again.  
  
Not that he would ever want to. Dib had been spending the last year attempting to forget Zim had ever existed. Zim was the reason for all his problems.  
  
"Hey Dib! Kill any aliens lately?" The girl's voice called out across the cafeteria, followed by a wave of laughter. Dib's hand tightened on his fork till he was gripping it so tightly his arm shook, but he didn't look up. He didn't need to. He knew Zita's voice. The stupid cheerleader had always been the head of the mocking for as long as Dib could remember.  
  
As the laughing quieted, Dib stood up and threw his lunch in the trash. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his black trench coat and walked out of the cafeteria, scowling at the floor.  
  
Only one quiet voice still laughed. Dib tried to ignore it, but it was wearing on his nerves. It followed him into the hall and stayed right beside him as he started getting his history books out of his locker. The voice died to a chuckle.  
  
When he felt that he would snap and lose it completely if he didn't shut the voice up Dib spun around. "WOULD YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!?" He yelled only to find the hall empty. He glared at the empty hall then turned back to his locker, trying to put the laughter out of his mind.  
  
It wasn't the first time he had heard it when no one was around. In fact it was ALWAYS there. Whenever he messed up, whenever someone made a joke about him, whenever he looked stupid. He refused to let himself believe it was real. It couldn't be. He had won.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Geese, Dib. Who'd you kill now?" Gaz asked, glancing away from the TV when she heard her brother come in the front door that night. Like nearly a year ago he Dib had just come in from the dark with a read stain running down his blue shirt.  
  
"It's not blood, Gaz." Dib replied, annoyed. "I stopped at the 7/11 and got a slushy and ended up spilling it."  
  
"Yeah, sure." Gaz said, looking back at the TV. "Oh, your farming magazine came today." She told him holding a magazine over her head. Dib grabbed it.  
  
"It's not a farming magazine. It's 'crop-CIRCLES'."  
  
"Whatever. They're both stupid." Gaz replied. Dib began flipping through the pages as he started up the stairs to his room.  
  
"There you are, son." Dib stopped at the sound of his father's voice. He turned around and knew by the look on Membrane's face, or what he could see of it, that Dib wasn't going to like the news. Membrane on the other hand seemed to think he would.  
  
"Yeah?" Dib asked cautiously  
  
"Son, I've been thinking and I've decided it's time that you began preparing yourself to take over the family business." Membrane began.  
  
'Oh, no.' Dib thought 'not this again. Now what does he want me to do?'  
  
"I've decided to send you to my Magnificent Skool of Unending Scientific Knowledge." Membrane announced. "You start next month."  
  
Dib sighed. "Dad, you know I don't want to be a scientist. I'm still going to be a professional paranormal investigator. Why can't Gaz be the scientist?"  
  
"You're insane!" Gaz called from the couch, not looking away from the TV.  
  
"I'd rather be insane than a scien----"  
  
"That can be arranged." The cold voice, barely audible, cut off Dib's sentence, making him freeze.  
  
"Son? Is something wrong?" Membrane asked after a moment. Dib remained still, staring strait through his father. "Dib?" Membrane said when he still didn't move. Dib shuttered then looked at the Professor.  
  
"Did you." Dib began but trailed off; knowing no one else had heard the voice. "Um, sorry, what did you say?" Then the laughing began, louder and more clearly than ever.  
  
"Hmm.Dib, you seem more crazy than usual today. What is troubling you?" Membrane asked. Dib tried to push the terrible sound out of his head. It was useless. The more he tried the louder and clearer it became.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"He's been asking you what your problem is." Gaz told him, never letting her eyes leave the screen. "Obviously it has something to do with your hearing."  
  
"He has? I mean-" Dib squeezed his eyes shut, the laughing seemed to be gnawing at his sanity now, wearing it down to a point where he just couldn't take it anymore. "I need to go to my room." Dib told them. Before either of his other family members had time to say anything he had turned and sprinted up the stairs. A moment later Membrane and Gaz heard a door slam shut. Silence fell over the house, other than the TV. Then Membrane turned toward the kitchen.  
  
"Hmmm. well, I'll be in the kitchen scheduling him a lobotomy."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hi again. How was that? Ya know, by reading this story you would probably think that I don't like Dib. But actually he's my favorite character in the history of my favorite characters. The only reason I'm writing this is because of.well, because of something. I'll explain more in the end. Till then please review! C'ya  
  
~HelgaGP 


	3. Chap 3 Still Fighting

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. But, no, this fic isn't dead. I haven't written anything new in it in a while but there's stuff I wrote a while ago that I just haven't posted yet. So....I dunno. Read. Please. And reviews are very nice things.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 3- Still Fighting  
  
Up in his room, Dib shut the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes. Slowly he slid down the smooth wood to sit on the floor, His forehead resting on his knees   
  
Voices? Now he was hearing voices? Maybe everyone was right. Maybe he was crazy.  
  
"No..." Dib whispered to himself. "I just didn't hear it. I couldn't have heard it! Zim's dead......Zim's....dead."  
  
"Am I?"  
  
Dib's head came up so fast he hit it against the door. He cringed and rubbed a bump on the back of his head.   
  
He was sure he'd heard it. And this time it wasn't just in his head. It had come from somewhere in the room. Dib looked around his room quickly, searching for anything that could have possibly made a sound resembling Zim's voice.   
  
Finally he sighed and let his head fall back to his knees.  
  
"I AM losing it!" he groaned. A familiar chuckle floated through the room.  
  
"It's a possibility." Zim's voice replied. "You were always crazy. But in this case, no, I'm here." He chuckled again.  
  
"No." Dib said, looking up again. "You can't be... I KILLED you! I buried your body in my backyard! You're DEAD!"  
  
"I may be dead, yes. You accomplished that goal in your pathetic human life. But that doesn't mean I'm gone. I would've thought you of all people would know that. With all your ghostly knowledge and stuff."  
  
Dib could picture Zim smirking at him at that moment. After a year he had thought the image of Zim would have faded, at least a little. But now it was in his mind, fresh and bright as a picture.  
  
"But I won, Zim! Remember? It's over! I destroyed you-"  
  
"No, Dib." Zim cut him off sharply. "You haven't won. And you haven't destroyed me." Dib glared at absolutely nothing as Zim laughed darkly.   
  
"I've been destroying YOU."  
  
Dib jumped to his feet and angrily threw open the door to his closet. "Where are you!?" He demanded as he yanked blue shirts and black jackets off their hangers and to the floor. "Huh, Zim? Come out here and face me, you coward!"  
  
"I'm not in your smelly little closet, Earth-Monkey." Zim told him, laughing at Dib's frantic and useless search. Dib spun around.  
  
"Then where the hell are y-" Dib's voice was lost. He took a surprised step back, tripped over a boot and fell into the closet.   
  
Zim was sitting on his bed, looking completely solid, completely alive. The evil smile he'd worn as he died was back, except this time it wasn't cover by his disguise.  
  
Dib just stared at the image in total shock. This wasn't happening. It was supposed to be over! HE had WON!   
  
Furious, Dib leapt to his feet again. Screaming, he ran toward his bed, arms out, ready to push Zim to the floor. When he was close enough he jumped at the alien. An ice cold chill ran through Dib's body, quickly replaced by sudden pain as he hit the wall on the other side. He lay on his bed a moment, staring at the ceiling, dazed. After a moment he slowly sat back up and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the pain shooting through it.  
  
"Ah, Dib, Dib, Dib." Zim sighed as he shook his head. He turned half his body to look at the human. Dib glared and threw a punch at Zim's face. His hand went straight through it and came out the back. It felt as though he'd attempted to punch a patch of freezing air. Dib pulled his fist back quickly and stared at it in surprise.   
  
"Stupid human." Zim said. "Have you completely forgotten all you 'paranormal' stuff?" He put empathize on the word 'paranormal' making it sound like something crazy. "You can't hurt me." Zim continued. "I'm dead. Remember? You killed me one night out on a sidewalk somewhere?"  
  
"Then it's over." Dib insisted, breathing hard and glaring at Zim. How he hated that man. "You're dead, so you can't conquer Earth. I won."   
  
"I agree that you won that battle." Zim admitted. Dib looked surprised for a moment, then went back to glaring. "But I'm not talking about THAT. What I'm talking about is the battle we've been fighting since the day I came to this filthy little chunk of space garbage. The battle of Zim versus Dib. Win takes all, loser ceases to exist."   
  
Dib looked coldly at Zim. "That's you." He told the alien. "I killed YOU. So YOU no longer exist!"   
  
Zim growled, annoyed. "You just don't listen, do you?" He snapped. "YES I am dead! YES you killed me! YES your pitiful planet is safe! But NO! We are NOT finished!" The tow glared at each other. "You merely killed my body, Dib. But not my mind. And not my will to destroy you."  
  
"And what do you plan to do about it?" Dib hissed. "You can't hurt me."  
  
"Oh, I have a plan." Zim replied. "And it's a great plan! Not like those plans I had while I was alive. I can't see now how feeble they were. I was naive. But now...I'm open to so many possibilities. In fact, the moment I saw my blood on my glove. I had a plan. It started that moment too." The grin that had haunted Dib for 364 days appeared again. Dib's body stiffened reflexively at the sight, causing Zim to laugh. "And it seems to be working perfectly. Yessssss, you shall not win THIS battle, DIB!" He broke out into a maniacal laughter.  
  
The sound grated on Dib's nerves until he couldn't take it any more. Once again forgetting his knowledge of ghosts and spirits, Dib lunged at Zim. A moment later he was lying on the floor, pain throbbing in his hip and shoulder.  
  
Ignoring the pain he jumped immediately to his feet and spun around to face Zim.  
  
He was gone.  
  
Dib stumbled backwards in surprise. The laughter that seemed to suddenly be coming from everywhere slowly pulled itself inward until once again it resided only in Dib's head.  
  
Spinning around again, Dib searched his room, his eyes darting from side to side. He could still hear Zim's irritating laughter, but somehow he knew the Irken's spirit wasn't going to let him see it.  
  
A sharp knock on his door made Dib gasp and spin to face it. Instantly Zim cut his laughter to watch whatever was about to happen. He was sure his plan nearly complete. Once it was he could finally leave Dib's tiny mind for good. Well, leave what was left of it anyway.  
  
The knocking came again. Dib glared at the door, rushed forward and threw it open.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ZIM?!" He yelled. Out in the hall, Gaz stared at her brother, cocking an eyebrow at him. Zim chuckled quietly, only barely loud enough for even Dib to hear.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Gaz asked. "And what are you doing in there? Sounds like you're throwing your furniture against the walls."  
  
"I-I'm rearranging." Dib lied quickly. Gaz stepped forward and looked past him to survey the room.  
  
"it doesn't look any different to me." She said. Zim laughed louder at Dib's stupid lie. Dib's body stiffened as he attempted to mentally push away the irritating sound. Gaz noticed this and took a small step backward.  
  
"What's your problem?" She demanded. "You've been acting stranger than ever lately."  
  
"It's nothing." Dib lied again. "I'm fine."   
  
"Are you, Dib?" Zim hissed. "Are you REALLY fine?"  
  
"Yes... I AM really fine." Dib murmured under his breath.  
  
"I didn't say anything." Gaz told him as she began walking down the hall toward her room. "Geeze, Dib, maybe you really ARE crazy."  
  
Dib watched her until she disappeared into her own room. He closed the door, walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge, staring at the blue carpet in frustration. Zim was quiet for now, but Dib had a feeling that the alien spirit was still there, somewhere.   
  
"What is it, Zim?" Dib whispered angrily to the empty room. "What are you doing? Are you still just trying to make me look crazy? Is that it?"   
  
Silence.  
  
"Huh, Zim? IS THAT IT?!" Dib yelled. Still there was only silence. An thick, annoying silence. Dib sighed, closely edging a scream, and fell back on his pillow, staring at the ceiling. Gaz's last words came back to him.   
  
Was that it? Was he finally going crazy? Losing his mind and believing Zim was back? That he had never really left?  
  
No... he was there. Dib could feel his presence. Like when someone's in the same room as you. No... not like the same room... more like...  
  
Dib froze. In his mind he was transported back a year.  
  
He watched Zim die again, that horrible grin on his face, that strange feeling that something hadn't gone right coming over him shortly after the Irken had taken his last breath. That feeling that had never completely gone away, always seeming to press on his sanity.  
  
Then he was sitting in bed, drawing all those pictures. The pictures that he had had such a hard time getting rid of Zim's grin in, even when he had drawn him in pain. It had been like something in his mind wouldn't let him forget that Zim hadn't admitted defeat.  
  
Something in his mind...  
  
Zim.  
  
Zim was IN his MIND! Destroying him from the inside!  
  
"STOP IT, ZIM!" Dib screamed, jumping off his bed. "Get out of my head! Leave me ALONE!  
  
"So you figured it out, huh?" Zim replied casually. Now Dib knew the voice was in his head, but not a figment of his imagination. "It's about time, really. I expected you to catch on long before this. You always caught on fairly quickly during my life."  
  
"Get out of my mind, Zim." Dib growled, glaring at nothing, breathing hard from anger.  
  
"Not yet, Dib-worm." Zim chuckled. "Bet you never thought you'd hear yourself be called THAT again! But, no, not yet. I can tell that my work is nearly complete. Now, if you'd be so kind as to keep down the noise, I have a few last minute details to work out. So... why don't you go to sleep? It's always quiet when you sleep."  
  
"You think I'm going to just lay down and let you KILL me?" Dib asked. "I've been fighting you for over half my life! Do you expect me to give up NOW? I'VE got the advantage! I still HAVE my body AND mind!"  
  
"HA!" Zim scoffed. "We're almost even! You don't have enough of your mind left to do anything more to me! In fact, killing me is probably the worst move you could have made! I can do SO much more to you now! I can go on for as long as I need! That body was just holding me back!" Zim laughed. "I should've let you kill me YEARS ago!" He broke out laughing like a maniac. The sound tore away another piece of Dib's sanity.  
  
He growled, screamed and ran to his desk, turned on some loud music, and grabbed a pencil and his drawing tablet. He sat down at the desk and began working on a new, yet familiar picture. The same from a year ago.  
  
Dib refused to let himself sleep that night. He'd never sleep again if that's what it took to get rid of Zim.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Next chapter will hopefully be up sooner than they have been.  
  
~HelgaGP 


	4. Chap 4 Nevers

IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez, Nickelodeon, and Viacom.

Chapter 4- Nevers

* * *

"Hello?" Dib called into a dark, empty office. On the other side of the room the wall was made entirely of windows, giving the room its only light source. A large desk with a tall, backed chair set infront of the window, but there was nobody in there.

"Is anyone here?" Dib called, giving whoever was suposed to be there one more chance to answer. He shifted his drawing tablet and raised a hand to his mouth to stiffle a yawn. With everything he'dgone through the night before, Dib had completely forgoten the interview he'd schedualed weeks before with a illustrating company. He was hoping to get a job with this company so he could get his own place, get through college and get away from his dad.

Now the time had finally come and he was fighting to stay awake. He hadn't slept at all last night, even if he had tried he wouldn't have gotten any sleep. Zim had laughing insanely and muttering to himself in Irken every few minutes.

Dib closed the door to the office. Maybe the secretary had given him the wrong office number, he could go back and ask. He turned around preparing to go back to the reseptionist desk.

"Hello."

Dib screamed in surprise and jumped back, slamming into the door he'd just closed and dropping his tablet. A very strange looking, short man with a lobotomy scar and thick glasses was stand in front of him, a bit too close to Dib for comfort, staring at him. Dib glanced quickly up and down the hall, looking for someone he could call to for help, but the hall was deserted.

"Uhh... Hi. I... I was just looking for... er, the secretary told me to come here." Dib stammered, still recovering from the shock.

"Oh, yes." The man replied. "Yes, I was told you would be coming. Have some drawings for me to see, eh?"

"Uh, yeah." Dib answered, not sure about the situation. At least his heart beat had returned to normal. The strange man grinned and moved around Dib to open the door to his office.

"Come in, come in. Sit down." He said as he walked over to the high backed chair and motioned for Dib to sit in the smaller chair infront of the desk. Dib sat down and took the other man's hand when he extended it. "I'm Mr. Nevers." The man introduced himself.

"Dib." Dib replied. The man took his hand back and touched the tips of his fingers together.

"I know." Nevers answered, grinning in a way that made Dib feel even more nervous. "Now... let me see these pictures of yours."

"Okay..." Dib said as he slid his tablet across the desk. Nevers took it and began flipping through the drawings. "It's just something I started about a year ago, you know, for something to do. They're not much, mostly pencil scetches, some of them I out-lined with ink, a couple have some color to them, but..." He trailed off, feeling like he was talking too much.

"Yes, I see." Nevers murmered absently. There was a moment of akward silence.

"I really plan to go into Professional Paranormal Investigation." Dib went on, finding that silence was worse. "But so far my experiences in that field haven't been too... sucessful."

"I should supose it wouldn't be." Nevers replied with a nod.

"Why's that?" Dib asked.

"If it doesn't excist I don't think it could be too sucessful." Nevers told him. Dib glared at the man. Nevers, However, didn't notice. He had stopped on a certain page and was studing it carefully. He touched his finger tips together again and gave a thoughtful "Hmmm..."

"What?" Dib asked, leaning forward to see which picture Nevers had stopped on. He stared at the picture coldly, shutting out any emotions.

"This green boy seems to show up quiet often in your art." Nevers told him. "Always being tortured." He pointed at the particular drawing. "This one he actually seems to be dying. A stab wound." Nevers paused then added. "Is he your own charecter?"

"No." Dib answered blankly. "That's Zim. He was.... He was an alien." Nevers looked up a moment, then looked back down at the tablet. "He was trying to destroy the Earth." Dib went on, thinking out loud. "But he's been dead a year now.... Exactly one year."

"That's nice." Nevers said, carefully closing the tablet. He slid the drawings across the desk to Dib then pushed his chair away from the desk, and Dib, a foot or two.

"So? What do you think?" Dib asked. Nevers hesitated a moment then grinned.

"Have you tried putting monkeys into your work?" He asked. Dib stared at him.

"Monkeys?"

"Yes, cute little monkeys! Product testing has found they work very well in drawing and paintings and such. People love monkeys!" Nevers exclaimed. Dib just stared. "No?" Nevers went on. "Well, how about chipmunks or puppies? Unicorns are pretty."

"I'm not drawing unicorns." Dib told him bluntly. "What's wrong with the subjects I draw now?"

"Well, they're just so dark and make you look kinda... what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yes, crazy." Nevers replied. Dib picked up his tablet and held it tightly.

"I'm not crazy." Dib muttered angrly. "I came here for an oppinion on my drawings, not a diagnosis on my mental health."

"Of course." Nevers agreed quickly. "But I'm sure I know a few ways to make your pictures.... urmmm.... happier."

Dib held the notebook tighter. He had the sudden, almost uncontrolable urge to drive a pencil through the man's head. Luckily for Nevers Dib didn't have a pencil at the time.

"I think my pictures are fine the way they are. Not everything is happy and full of monkeys and unicorns, and my drawings are a few of them." Dib told him through gritted teeth as he stood up. "Thank you for taking the time to look at my art, but I've really got to get back to skool."

Nevers stared up at Dib a few moments then the grin returned.

"Pixies?"

"I'm leaving." Dib replied flatly. He turned and walked out the door, seriously hoping that the old man would get hit by a car on his way home.

"Another brilliant failure for the Dib." Zim chuckled as Dib walked down the hall.

"Shut up." Dib growled. He ignored the lady who stared at him with a surprised look and was wondering what she had done.

"Ya know, maybe you SHOULD try drawing some of those unicorns that vile old man suggested. It might relieve some of the stress you're under." Zim suggested, mocking him. In his mind, Dib saw that dying smirk that had been plaguing him.

"I told you to shut up. You're the last person I want to ecknowledge right now." Dib said, his voice growing louder, and turning more heads, as his anger grew. He pressed the down button on the elevator. "So please, for once in your life, can you just leave me alone?" The doors opened and Dib walked into the unocupied elevator.

"Hmm... I would consider that..." Zim began, then chuckled darkly. "If this were my life."

Out of pure fusteration Dib let out a loud scream, causing all the people in their offices on three different floors to stick their heads out their doors. People on one floor witnessed the doors of the elevator closing to block their view of an apparently insane teenage boy.

* * *

Okay, now that you know who the other charecter is, please dont stop reading this when I post again. Hopefully I'll post sooner next time. There's only a few more chapters left and they're my favorites. That and I've just gotten a lap top which I've been bringing to skool once in a while to work on my own stuff durring study hall. So if all goes well I hope to have at least one more chap up by the end of the month. Thank you to anyone who has read this and is willing to put up with my short attention span. Reviews will help keep me going. (kinda like a clap if you believe in fairies type of thing clap clap!) Thank you again.

HelgaGP


	5. Chap 5 Snapped

Characters are all legal property of Jhonen Vasquez, Nickelodeon, and Viacom. Good news everyone! I have found a program with spell check on this comp Woo!

* * *

Chapter 5- Snapped

Dib sat at the usual table in the skool cafeteria, the one in the corner, his back to the wall. He could see everyone that way and know who was watching him. That is, he could if he ever bothered looking up.

Now he was staring down at the potatoes on his tray, visualizing Mr. Nevers's head as he poked them with his fork. He should've gone home after his visit with that man, but if he had, he would've just had to face his father's plans for his future sooner.

"Are you going to eat that sandwich?" Gaz's voice brought Dib out of his angry thoughts.

"Since when do you ask before taking my stuff?" Dib asked, not taking his scowling eyes off the potatoes. Gaz glared at him.

"Give me the damn sandwich."

Dib turned his hateful look on his sister, his hand tightened around the fork until it hurt. "Take it.," he growled throwing the sandwich down onto her tray. Gaz's glare deepened a moment then she picked up the bread and meat and took a bite.

Half way across the cafeteria, Zita and her fellow cheerleaders were sitting at their reserved table and passing their usual gossip, some of which had just been made up in the past few minutes. Zita had just happened to look over at the brother/sister quarrel in time to see Dib throw down the sandwich. A haughty smile curled her lips.

"Oh, girls…" She said quietly. "Look over there." The other girls turned their attention to the table their self-appointed leader was smirking at.

"My, my, someone has a short temper today." Sarah giggled. Aki and Mary nodded. Zita grinned mischievously.

"Who wants to bet I can make him snap?" She hissed. Her friends looked at her with only a little surprise. Their faces quickly mimicked Zita's. "Do I have any takers?" She asked. Aki laughed.

"You're evil."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Zita replied. She stood up, smoothed out her cheerleading skirt and began walking confidently across the cafeteria, a little bounce in her step.

"What is she doing?" Mary wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Sarah replied, "But it should get interesting."

"Hello, is anyone sitting here?" Zita asked sweetly, motioning to the bench across from Dib and Gaz. Gaz looked up at her a moment then went back to her sandwich. Dib watched Zita suspiciously.

"Why?" He finally asked.

"Just wondering." Zita shrugged. "I couldn't help but notice your little argument with your sister. I just came over to see what was going on." Dib glared at her.

"That's not your business." He told her and looked down at his tray. Zita stepped over the bench and sat down anyway.

"No, I suppose it's not." Zita admitted. An idea came to her, causing a smirk to flash across her face. She quickly replaced it with a curious smile. "I was actually wondering what you were doing tonight." Dib stopped and looked up at her, keeping his face blank.

"Why would you care what I was doing tonight?"

"Don't you think a girl might want to ask you out?" Zita asked a slight giggle in her voice. Dib's blank face went back to a scowl.

"You're not asking me out. I'm not stupid." He told her defensively. "And if you were, by some moment of random insanity, I'd turn you down."

Zita glared at him. She had come over to this table to make HIM mad, not to let him get to her! He was going to pay for that comment.

"You're right." She hissed. "I wasn't asking you out; I don't date freaks." Dib's hand tightened on the fork again. Zita went on. "I wanted to know what you were doing so I could find out if the police should be notified ahead of time. We all know what tonight is, Dib. One year ago tonight, Zim disappeared. One year ago tonight you killed him!"

Dib stared at her blankly, eyes empty, hand gripping the fork tighter. Zita waited, expecting him to deny her accusation, but he just stayed still and quiet.

"Did you hear me?" Zita finally asked, getting annoyed. "I said you kill--"

"I hear you." Dib growled quietly. He glared down at the tray a moment, and then turned the look on Zita. "But I didn't kill him. I tried, but I didn't."

Zita stared, confused. His response had caught her off guard. "Wh-what?" She stammered, feeling the first twinges of fear.

"I tried to kill Zim…" Dib told her, a little louder. "But it didn't work. His body died, but he's still here. He's been trying to destroy me."

Fear now showed clearly on Zita's face, her hands gripped the edge of the table tightly; ready to push away quickly if needed. Beside Dib, Gaz stared at him too, but her face betrayed nothing.

"You… you're crazy." Zita whispered.

Zim chuckled at this. Dib tensed, his hand convulsing around the fork so tightly the metal handle bit into his palm, sending pain shooting up his arm. He dropped the fork with a yelp. He frowned and looked down at his hand, a small puddle of blood pooled in the creases of his palm.

"…since the moment I saw my blood on my glove…"

Dib gasped at the memory and wiped his hand on a napkin in panic. A flash of light on metal turned his attention to the fork handle, blood smeared the shining utensil.

The knife smeared with Zim's blood…

Something snapped.

"You…" Dib growled at Zita. "You've been helping him…"

"M-me?" Zita asked her green eyes wide.

Dib jumped to his feet so quickly the force pushed the bench he had been on over backward, taking Gaz down with it. She stared up at her brother in shock. Everyone in the cafeteria turned to see what had happened. Quiet settled over the room.

Dib grabbed the bloody fork and struck it out so fast Zita didn't have time to react. The fork's tines scratched her face, leaving four long, deep, gouges in her cheek. The force of the blow knocked her off the bench and to the floor. She screamed in pain. The rest of the student body gasped, a few ran out into the hall to find help.

Dib looked over the table, glaring down at Zita; she stared up at him, quivering in horror, waiting for him to strike her again. Instead, Dib looked up at the rest of the students. He pointed the blood-dripping fork at all of them.

"You've ALL been helping him!" Dib screamed, nearly hysterical. "You're all destroying me! Your tormenting me has fed him! Kept Zim alive! He would have died with his body if it weren't for all of YOU!" Everyone was silent. Dib scowled back down at Zita. For a moment, he appeared to be thinking. His mouth curved into a slight grin. With out warning, he spun around and sprinted from the room.

Zita's friends rushed to her side and tried to comfort the hysterical girl.

On the other side of the table, Gaz pulled herself to her knees, using the overturned bench for support, and stared at the door her brother had just run through. She tried to ignore the voices whispering around her, but her thoughts echoed them.

Dib had snapped.

* * *

It's not over yet. Two more chapters. 


	6. Chap 6 Defeated

This is the second to last chapter. But the one after this is really just a conclusion, maybe half a page long. Almost done!

Disclaimer- I own nothing except for plot.

* * *

Chapter 6- Defeated

Dib slammed the front door behind him, sending vibrations through the walls and rattling the windows. A muffled 'clunk' turned his attention to the dark carpet under a wall shelf. Dib stalked over to the space and glared down at a hard plastic figurine of his father.

A low growl rumbled in his throat. "Science…" he snarled. He bent down and picked the figure up, grasping it tightly in anger. "_Keep your frickin' science!" _He spun around and chucked the figure at a window across the room. The window shattered, and Dib sprinted up the stairs, taking them easily two at a time.

He slammed the door to his bedroom. All the slamming doors helped ease some of his anger, but not enough.

"You won't destroy me… you won't destroy me…" Dib murmured repeatedly in a mantra to the alien he could feel but not see.

"You can't stop me now, Dib." Zim's voice replied darkly. "You're too far gone." He burst out in his malicious laugh.

Dib stumbled backward, hit the door, and slid down it to sit, huddled, on the floor. He put his hands to his ears trying to block out that horrible laughter, but it didn't help. Meanwhile his eyes were flicking around the room, desperately looking for a way to stop Zim one last time.

Light glinted off something metallic under his bed. Dib stared at the glimmer a few moments as his mind processed what it was.

…The knife.

Slowly, Dib got to his feet and walked over to his bed, his eyes fixed on the shining blade. He knelt down on the floor and carefully pulled the short sword out of its hiding place. He sat down on the floor, the knife in his lap, staring at the weapon. He felt hypnotized by the light glinting off the sharp edge. A few traces of browned blood still clung to it.

"Yes I can," Dib whispered.

"What did you say?" Zim hissed.

"I can still stop you," Dib answered, his voice stronger.

Zim chuckled, "Poor, delusional Dib." Dib looked up quickly; the Irken was sitting on his bed, smirking down at him. Zim shook his head. "His mind is so far gone he can't see when he's beat."

Dib glared at him, full of hatred. "No, Zim," His voice began to rise as he spoke. "You're beat! You've always been beat!" Dib was now yelling. "You've _never _had a plan that's worked! _You're a failure_!"

Zim's eyes widened in surprise, then shrank to thin, furious slits of crimson. A growl resonated from his throat.

"If I'm such a failure, then tell me, how are you going to stop me now, Dib?"

Dib looked back down at the blade in his hands, his face set in the same blank expression it had taken after he'd killed Zim. He took the knife in his right hand and raised it up next to his head.

"Dib's gone," He whispered. Zim looked confused.

In a series of swift motions, Dib grabbed his scythe of hair in his left hand and slashed the knife through it an inch from his scalp. Long strands of blue-black hair drifted to the floor around him.

Zim cocked an eyebrow at the severed hair. "That's it?" He asked. "That's your brilliant plan to defeat me? Cutting your hair?" Dib stood up and set the knife on his pillow. Zim stared at the knife an unreadable expression on his green face. Dib ignored this and moved over to his closet.

"I'm not done yet," he murmured. He put his hand on the ID sensitive lock, the doors slid open, and Dib began tearing shirt after shirt off the hangers, then throwing them back into the closet. He pulled out a plain black shirt, studied it, and then let it drop to the floor beside him. He pulled his old black trench coat off himself and threw it to the floor behind him as if it had burned him; he did the same with his blue smiley-face shirt.

Zim watched him do this with curious interest. He looked down at the small pile of Dib's favorite clothes; when he looked back up, Dib was wearing the plain black shirt. Zim watched as Dib flung his glasses against the wall, they smashed to wire and shards of glass on the floor.

Dib stumbled to his desk and rummaged around in the drawers, nearly blind. A moment later, he pulled out a small, white, eight-shaped object. It took him a few impatient minutes to get the contacts in his eyes. When he finally did, he turned back to Zim.

"Are you done now?" Zim asked, looking over a young man who barely resembled his enemy.

"Almost," Dib growled. He snatched the knife from his pillow and attacked his trench coat and blue shirt, slashing them to shreds. A few stabs reached into the floor, pulling up pieces of dark blue carpet and a few splinters of wood.

Zim watched it all with a growing grin.

When the coat and shirt were reduced to scraps of useless cloth and loose strings, and the floor was deeply scarred, Dib sat back against the bed, breathing hard. He threw the knife across the room and closed his eyes.

"Done?" Zim asked again. Dib just nodded. Zim smirked. "So, explain to me how this little show has stopped me."

Dib took a few deep breaths. "You can't destroy me," he murmured. "If I already have."

Zim just grinned and faded away.

* * *

One chapter left. I might get it up tonight. 


	7. Epilogue

Last chapter.

* * *

Epilogue 

Dib sat at the counter of a diner the next morning. He didn't know what town he was in and he didn't much care. He just sat there, picking at the half-eaten omelet that he wasn't even sure he could pay for.

Zim had stopped talking. He was still there, but he wasn't talking, so that was good… in a way.

"So, what's yer name, stranger?"

Dib looked up and found the waitress who had waited on him leaning one hand on the counter in front of him. She was a heavy-set middle-aged woman with a stained pink apron and a bad perm. She was also trying to fake a southern accent for reasons unknown.

"Excuse me?" Dib asked, not quite hearing the question.

"I asked fur yer name," the woman replied. "Don' think I've eva seen ya 'round here 'fore."

"Oh," Dib murmured. He looked back down at his plate.

Who was he? He wasn't Dib, that much he was sure of. He wasn't sure who got credit for that, though. The night before he'd been sure he'd beaten Zim to it, but now he wasn't so sure.

Didn't mater, really. Either way he was just another John Doe wandering through life.

"John…" he whispered.

"'Scuse me?" The waitress asked. "Din' quite catch that."

"John," he repeated louder. "My name is Johnny."

"Well, please ta meet ya, Johnny," the waitress shook his hand then moved down the counter to take the order of an elderly man who had just sat down.

In Nny's head, Zim laughed for the last time.

* * *

It's finished. I'm sure everyone saw it coming, but oh well. Let me know what ya thought of it. 

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and stuck with this thing. This might end up being the last time I post on FF.N unless I decide to finish A Tale of Two Nicktoons, but I don't seem to be getting much feedback on that and I'm just never in the mood to post. And I'm starting the second half of my senior year in High-skool that promises to be hectic. So,

Good bye (for a while at least)

HelgaGP

P.s. if there is anything of mine you would like me to finish, let me know and I'll make an attempt at it.


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